Dyspraxia

Since Joshua was born he has always been our quirky little soul. He was fast to talk and fast to walk and all seemed well with the world. Sure people told us he was hard to understand at times but we were reassured he would grow out of that. He also was super sensitive to tactile things so we got him used to dirt, sand and goop. He still insisted that we cut the tags out of his clothes until recently though. He was also super hearing boy. "What's that?" he would ask about a rustle three aisles away in the Warehouse. His sensitivity to sound had us abandon birthday parties with screechy balloons, and fireworks night required heavy duty earmuffs. He was also super smell boy, "Ewwwwwwwww what is that smell?" he would often ask at the top of his lungs with great potential for embarrassment. So yeah he has always been quirky. When all the other kids were trying to get a goal at soccer he was at the back of the field spinning in his own little world. Quirky....

When he was 2 he was the boy who hated getting dirty. When he was 3 he was the only child who wouldn't play with cars. When he was 4 he was the child who would avoid coloring in. When he was 5 he was the child having panic attacks and obsessing about what might kill him. When he was 6 he was the one coming up with 101 reasons why he shouldn't do writing today. When he was 7 he was the child who felt bullied and intimidated at school, who started having panic attacks at home again, who hated to write and would cry in frustration that he had forgotten the spelling words he knew he had learnt. And now he is 7.5yrs old and is the child who has dyspraxia and understands why he doesn't like to write, why it hurts him to write, why he gets frustrated, why he can't tie his shoes, why he forgets his spelling, why he gets anxious and why he feels different from the other kids. Now we know why Joshua is the delightful quirky child that he is we feel the only way to go from here is UP!! Knowing he has dyspraxia means that we can give him the help and support he needs and hopefully his anxiety and frustration levels will drop. Hopefully one day he will see it not as a pain but as a gift.